Campaniforme

Architectures and funerary practices from the second half of the forth and the beginning of the third millennium B.C. are quite different from those in use during the previous middle Neolithic period, in many places in occidental Europe. In Western France this general trend will be expressed in very diff erent ways, if we observe regions situated north or south of the Loire River. New megalithic architectures were built on top of the soil in Brittany, or buried in the Paris Basin. No such thing in more southern regions, were the individual “burials” could even have been one of the more common practice, for a time at least. Comparisons between domestic and funerary architectures, at north, or between individual and collective burials, at south, will highlight new perspectives in the status, the composition or the disposition of funerary goods.

THE BRONZE AGE IN WESTERN SICILY. - Many cultures developed during bronze age in western Sicily. Sometime they were contemporary showing the presence of very interesting ethnical dynamics bringing to acculturation phenomena like in the case of Bell Beaker mainly diffused in south west regions.
During early bronze Castelluccio culture was diffused also in western Sicily, but it developed slowly towards what was called Rodì Tindari Vallelunga facies and that now we think is a process of typological as cultural change between Castelluccio and Thapsos. During this last phase we encounter the origin of some
regional differences among the same culture that will be more evident during late bronze age. We see that there are aspects more tied with a Mediterranean tradition, such as Mokarta. But we also see that there areas where it is strong a Tyrrhenian tradition and also a continental one with Ausonian affinities.

In the synthesis about the European Neolithic, there is a tradition consisting of dating one of the crucial historical turning points at the transition between the megalithic culture of the late Neolithic (SOM-Horgen-Wartberg horizon) and the Beaker culture. The emergence of the Corded ware culture, in the beginning third millennium and, a few centuries later and for other regions, the appearance of the Bell Beaker culture represented, according to the paradigm, the dawn of a new ideology characterized by a deeper emphasis upon individuality and focused on the “warrior figure”, as suggested by the symbolic valorization of weapons (sword, axe and bow). Several authors use to forget that this reconstruction is relevant only for part of Europe. In other regions, particularly the area encompassing the North Pontic steppes and the fore-Caucasus region and several regions of the West-Mediterranean basin, the “ideology of the warrior” is strongly established already in the second half of the 4th millennium BC. In this article, we examine the available data for the second of those two areas. The upheavals that are perceptible in the 3600/3400 – 3000 chronological horizon in the concerned regions (Italy, Iberian Peninsula and Southern France) (booming of the copper metallurgy, appearance of new types of copper or lithic weapons, “warrior” graves, anthropomorphic stelae) suggest the existence of a homogenous movement of diffusion, with various consequences according to the type and degree of the local reactions. Regarding the origin of this movement, the recent discoveries tend rather to reinforce the old theory of the steppic influences. One of the main arguments is that the bundle of traits that characterize the ideological revolution in the West-Mediterranean area in the end of the 4th millennium exists in the same configuration in the North Pontic / north Caucasus zone already before 3700, especially in the Maikop culture.

JEUNESSE C. (2020) La réutilisation des monuments funéraires anciens dans l’Europe du IIIe millénaire : le cas du Campaniforme, in C. Meyer, P. Held, C. Knipper, N. Nicklisch (dir.), Der Zahn der Zeit. Mensch und Kultur im Spiegel interdisziplinärer Forschung. Festschrift für Kurt W. Alt, Halle an der Saale, Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, 61-68.

The practice of reusing ancient monumental tombs is often presented as a southern and western specificity within the Bell Beaker Culture, as opposed to individual burials, which are considered typical of Central Europe. A careful examination of the available data shows that reuse exists throughout the Bell Beaker culture. It is simply more visible in the south and west because of the high density of megalithic burials that characterises these regions. In central and northern Europe, it is commonly practised in both the Bell Beaker culture and the Corded Ware culture, both sharing this practice with the Early Bronze Age steppe cultures of the North-Pontic area, especially the Yamnaja culture. The hypothesis, sometimes defended by specialists of the Bell Beaker of the southern zone, of a continuity of use of collective burials between the pre-Bell Beaker substratum and the Bell Beaker culture is criticised here. The available data lead the author to favour scenarios built around the notions of rupture and intrusion.

A survey of Bell Beaker manifestations in the Portuguese territory is presented here. Main conclusions are highlighted: 1) Concerning absolute chronology, the most ancient beaker productions can be situated between 2800-2600 BC, either in the North region of the Douro river, or in the Estremadura; 2) Most part of archaeological sites present stratigraphic coexistence of different ceramic productions with decorative patterns and techniques. This is in contradiction with the traditional periodization of the Bell Beaker manifestations that are based upon those stylistic characteristics. On the other hand, in some regions we can observe the almost absolute dominance of diferente styles in some domestic sites that are synchronic, in spite of its spatial proximity, as in the case of eastern region of Alto Alentejo. 3) In the Estremadura, the typological differences observed between the productions from walled sites and open sites, both contemporaneous, suggest that the first ones are the local residence of emergent elites. Open sites were occupied by the segment of the community dedicated intensively and extensively to agro-pastoral activities. 4) Finally, the nature and characteristics of the Ferradeira Horizon and Montelavar Horizon, which corresponds to the transition to the Bronze Age, are discussed.

El presente trabajo trata de reconstruir La Edad del Bronce en un territorio muy concreto de la Meseta castellano-leonesa: el tramo vallisoletano de La Ribera del Duero.
Fruto de una laboriosa investigación, en la que las fuentes principales han sido, por un lado las intensas prospecciones desarrolladas en sector y por otro las derivadas de las excavaciones arqueológicas, se ha pretendido elaborar una visión bastante completa, a la par que novedosa, de la Edad del Bronce del sector, prestando especial atención a los siguientes aspectos: 1) Determinar una secuencia cultural (cronología, tipología de los artefactos, estructuras de hábitat, etc.) de esta etapa cultural, inscribiéndola en el marco geográfico del centro de la Meseta peninsular y rastreando sus posibles conexiones con otras áreas culturales durante parte de los milenios II y I a. C. 2) reconocer las características generales de la ocupación en este territorio, intentando además de esta forma que La Ribera vallisoletana pudiera servir de elementos de contrastación para futuros trabajos en el Valle del Duero.  3) Profundizar en los caracteres de la ocupación del territorio, su organización (distribución, jerarquía, etc.) y evolución a lo largo del periodo protohistórico citado. En definitiva, el estudio de los modos de vida de estas gentes y de cómo dejan su huella en el medio físico en cuestión.

Antonio De Gregorio Brunaccini nasce a Messina il 27.06.1855 e muore a Palermo il 15.12. Esponente di una nobile famiglia siciliana, si distingue per la natura versatile e per la curiosità in ogni settore del sapere. Dottore in Scienze Naturali, socio della Reale Accademia di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti di Palermo, fondatore e poi proprietario-direttore della prestigiosa rivista “Il Naturalista Siciliano”, socio corrispondente di numerose accademie europee e americane, è studioso di fisica, botanica, zoologia, musica, arte, letteratura, archeologia; in particolare si occupa di geologia e paleontologia. Quest’ultimi studi lo avvicinano a quelli di paletnologia che egli vede come “un genere di studio che da un lato entra nel dominio dell’archeologia, dall’altro in quello della paleontologia e della geologia.” La testimonianza principale della sua attività, in questo campo, si evidenzia nella ideazione e pubblicazione degli Annales de Géologie et de Paléontologie, ove pubblica le sue ricerche illustrando i reperti con disegni, fornendo la provenienza, una descrizione ed una collocazione cronologica. Grazie a questa opera abbiamo contezza delle raccolte archeologiche – pubbliche e private – esistenti in Sicilia alla fine dell’Ottocento, alcune delle quali sono andate disperse.

From the point of view of funerary practices, two large, broad provinces of the Beaker culture used to be distinguished : in the south (the western Mediterranean and Iberian Peninsula) and in the west (the Atlantic region) areas of the Beaker culture, the dead would be preferentially buried in reused pre-Beaker megaliths, while the domain of the individual grave falls in the eastern region. A closer examination shows that this division does not reflect the prehistoric reality. Far from being specific to the Atlantic-Mediterranean region, the reutilisation of earlier monumental tombs (megalithic chambers or tumulus) is commonly practiced throughout the Beaker area. This practice is simply more visible in the zone with the most monumental graves which corresponds to the southern and western areas of the second megalithism. A careful review of the available literature also shows that the southern and western zone produced, alongside reused megaliths, numerous flat individual graves, which in certain cases had been covered by a tumulus. This mixture of practices is attested in all the regions of the Beaker culture where monumental tombs existed. In the south and west, the predominance of reuse is only manifested by the great visibility of monumental graves. The traditional opposition between a large province where reuse was practised and a province where individual graves were used, therefore has to be abandoned. Before the beginning of the Beaker period, reuse had already been widely practiced in the Corded ware and Yamnaja cultures, posing the question of an eventual eastern origin for this usage. In the Corded ware and Beaker culture, reused structures are not systematically monumental tombs, in a number of cases flat graves were reused. The reused funerary contexts were either old tombs, pre-Beaker or pre-Corded ware, or the first users of the tombs had the same material culture as the second users. In the first case, the chronological scope between the two users is very variable. The reuse can involve monuments abandoned for many centuries as well as 'living' structures. The idea frequently advanced that Beaker period reuse hides the reality, particularly for the Iberian Peninsula, of a continuity both demographic and ideologically from the culture substrate, is equally open to discussion. Actually, the available data strongly support a hypothesis which, in contrast, places a greater emphasis on notions of intrusion or rupture. The corresponding scenario is illustrated by the cases of partial destruction and the emptying of older monuments. The fact that monuments are frequently abandoned for centuries before they are reused also supports this argument. Finally, it is important to underline that Beaker communities in general only placed a single burial in pre-Beaker funerary chambers. There is thus not a continuity with the previous practice of collective burial, but rather the placing of an individual burial within a collective tomb. The treatment of the dead therefore obeys the same rule across the whole of the Beaker field. In the south and in the west, this practice is clearly a rupture with indigenous use. Generally, this is merely a reproduction of the funerary system used in the Corded ware culture. Résumé : Du point de vue des pratiques funéraires, les spécialistes du Campaniforme distinguent en général deux grandes provinces : au sud et à l'ouest de l'aire campaniforme, les morts seraient enterrés préférentiellement dans des sépultures mégalithiques pré-campaniformes réutilisées alors que la partie orientale serait le domaine de la tombe individuelle. Un examen approfondi montre que ce clivage ne reflète en rien la réalité préhistorique. Loin d'être spécifique à l'aire atlantico-méditerranéenne, la réutilisation de tombes monumentales anciennes est couramment pratiquée dans toute l'aire campaniforme. Elle est simplement plus visible dans la zone la mieux pourvue en sépultures monumentales, qui correspond à la partie méridionale et occidentale de l'aire de répartition du second mégalithisme. Avant de l'être par le Campaniforme, la réutilisation était déjà massivement pratiquée par le Cordé et la culture de Yamnaja, ce qui soulève la question d'une éventuelle origine orientale de cet usage. L'idée souvent avancée que la réutilisation campaniforme cache en réalité, notamment pour la Péninsule ibérique, une continuité à la fois démographique et idéologique avec les cultures du substrat, est également hautement discutable. Les données disponibles plaident en effet massivement en faveur d'une hypothèse qui, à l'inverse, fait la part belle aux notions d'intrusion et de rupture.

La question campaniforme: sur quelques débats d’hier et d’aujourd’hui / The bell beaker question: on some debates yesterday and today; Os mais antigos vasos marítimos e sua difusão a partir do estuário do Tejo (Portugal) / The oldest maritime vessels and their diffusion from the estuary of the Tagus (Portugal); Contributo para o conhecimento do coberto vegetal no decurso do 3.º milénio a.C. na região de Oeiras: resultados dos estudos antracológicos de Leceia / Contribution to the knowledge of the vegetal cover during the 3rd millennium BC in the region of Oeiras: results of the anthracological studies of Leceia; Outeiro Redondo – Sesimbra – Escavações 2005-2016 / Outeiro Redondo – Sesimbra – Excavations 2005-2016; A ocupação do Bronze Final na Serra do Socorro (Mafra, Torres Vedras): os trabalhos arqueológicos de 2007 e 2008 / Late Bronze age in Serra do Socorro (Mafra, Torres Vedras): 2007 and 2008 archaeological field work

En la monografía se aporta abundante material, totalmente inédito, producto de los trabajos de prospección y excavación (financiados ambos por la Junta de Castilla y León), realizados bajo dirección del autor. Este trabajo sirve de referencia a cuantos investigadores están interesados en analizar la Edad del Bronce de la cuenca del Duero. A lo largo de sus páginas se intenta reconstruir La Edad del Bronce en un territorio muy concreto de la Meseta castellanoleonesa: el tramo vallisoletano de La Ribera del Duero. Se aporta una visión bastante completa, a la par que novedosa, de la Edad del Bronce del sector, prestando especial atención a los siguientes aspectos: 1,- Determinar una secuencia cultural (cronología, tipología de los artefactos, estructuras de hábitat, etc.) de esta etapa cultural, inscribiéndola en el marco geográfico del centro de la Meseta peninsular y rastreando sus posibles conexiones con otras áreas culturales durante parte de los milenios II y I a.C.; II) reconocer las características generales de la ocupación en este territorio, intentando además de esta forma que La Ribera vallisoletana pudiera servir de elementos de contrastación para futuros trabajos en el Valle del Duero. 2,- Profundizar en los caracteres de la ocupación del territorio, su organización (distribución, jerarquía, etc.) y evolución a lo largo del periodo protohistórico citado. En definitiva, el estudio de los modos de vida de estas gentes y de cómo dejan su huella en el medio físico en cuestión. Para abordar el estudio, previamente, se procedió a la subdivisión de la etapa en una serie de fases que, pretendidamente, coinciden con las que habitualmente configuran la secuencia general de la Edad del Bronce de la Meseta Norte; motivo por el cual hemos intentado adoptar para cada uno de tales periodos las denominaciones más tradicionales y las que suelen ser de aplicación general en los trabajos que abordan la periodización de esta etapa en la zona. En el estudio, a grandes rasgos, se incluye el período comprendido entre la aparición del Campaniforme y la implantación de las primeras evidencias asimilables al denominado "horizonte Soto de Medinilla". Desde el punto de vista secuencial, los hechos objeto de análisis comienzan en las primeras centurias del II milenio a.C., momento en que, según todos los índices se inicia el desarrollo de horizonte companiforme inciso, cuyo elemento más distintivo lo constituyen sus tumbas individuales, que incluyen ricos ajuares de armas de cobre y adornos de oro. Para este periodo, que concluye, aproximadamente, entre finales del siglo XVIII y comienzos del XVII a.C.,-sobre estas fechas sitúa el readiocarbono el asentamiento de El Pico del Castro de Quintanilla de Arriba-, se ha reservado la denominación de Calcolítico Final-Bronce Inicial, por entender que se trata de un periodo en que se asiste a un proceso socio/cultural, de indudable alcance, que marca el tránsito entre las culturas calcolíticas y las que significan el arranque de la Edad del Bronce de la zona. Con todo, al ser los materiales del horizonte campaniforme los más significativos de esta etapa aplicaremos a la misma, indistintamente, el apelativo de Fase Campaniforme. Desde 1700 a.C., aproximadamente, se inicia un periodo, equiparable desde un punto de vista cronológico al Bronce Pleno de otros ámbitos peninsulares, para el que, en periodizaciones referentes al Bronce Meseteño, habitualmente, se reserva la denominación de "Etapa Anterior de la Edad del Bronce". A este periodo en diversas ocasiones ha sido considerado como una auténtica "época oscura", término que alude a la convicción de que se trataba de una etapa como definida, en cuanto a sus datos culturales se refiere, y cuyo desarrollo se situaba entre dos momentos de gran personalidad: esto es un Calcolítico floreciente, en sus fases Precampaniforme y Campaniforme, y un también floreciente Bronce Final, personalizado en la región en la cultura de Cogotas I.